Distinguished is level 3 of 4 in the China Hall of Fame: sustained excellence over a career, widely honoured at home. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
A composer whose Yellow River Cantata, written during the war against Japan, is one of the best-known works of Chinese classical music.
Xian Xinghai studied composition in Paris before returning to China in 1935. He wrote the Yellow River Cantata in 1939 in Yan'an; it was later adapted into the Yellow River Piano Concerto.
He died in Moscow in 1945 at the age of forty.
He died in Moscow in 1945 at the age of forty.
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